*La Pologne érigera une clôture en barbelés à sa frontière avec le Bélarus* ❝La Pologne a annoncé…

September 2021:
Poland: 4 people found dead on border with Belarus
►https://seenthis.net/messages/931677

« Hamza me dit qu’il a peur de mourir de froid dans la forêt ». Reportage avec les bénévoles à la frontière qui tue, entre la Biélorussie et la Pologne

La #zone_frontalière entre la Biélorussie et la Pologne est devenue le théâtre d’une #crise_humanitaire. Face aux violations de droit multiples de la part des autorités polonaises et bélarusses, et au silence indifférent des institutions européennes, des réseaux de militants et de locaux apportent une aide de base à ces personnes en détresse.

Par Agata Majos, à #Hajnówka – Depuis quelques jours, je fais partie du réseau militant #Grupa_Granica. Notre travail, c’est de soulager la souffrance des personnes qui se cachent dans la forêt polonaise. Si trouvés par des garde-frontières ou par la police, le risque est grand qu’ils soient de nouveau repoussés en Biélorussie. Cauchemar sans fin qui, pour certains, finira par la mort.

Le 2 septembre, la Pologne a introduit l’état d’urgence sur une bande qui jouxte la frontière. Seuls les habitants de cette zone peuvent y accéder. La présence des militants et des médias est interdite. Nous opérons pourtant dans les forêts qui se trouvent de notre côté.

Mon premier jour au QG des militants, près de la ville de Hajnówka. Je vais à ma première intervention. Un groupe de six personnes, cinq Syriens et un Irakien. C’est leur dixième séjour sur le sol polonais. Les gardes-frontières polonais les ont repoussés déjà neuf fois. Ça fait un mois qu’ils essayent de traverser cette forêt.

Au début, lorsqu’on les approche, ils ont peur de nous. On siffle. C’est pour les rassurer, comme ça ils savent qu’on n’est pas des gardes-frontières. Qu’on a des bonnes intentions.

Ils dévorent la nourriture qu’on apporte. Pour certains, ça fait des jours qu’ils n’ont pas mangé. On leur donne de l’eau, du pain, de la nourriture en boite (thon ou pâté), du chocolat, des barres énergétiques, de la soupe chaude. La soupe ne devrait pas être trop épicée – ils sont nombreux à avoir des problèmes gastriques. C’est parce qu’ils mangent très peu et ils boivent de l’eau boueuse des flaques, des marais et des ruisseaux.

On apporte aussi des couvertures d’urgence. Des chaussures et des chaussettes – les pieds sont souvent dans le pire état. Des batteries externes, absolument essentielles, car avec un portable chargé ils peuvent se localiser sur une carte, écrire un mot à leurs familles. Un portable chargé peut sauver la vie dans ces conditions infernales.

Les signes de leur séjour en Biélorussie, on les voit partout sur leurs corps.

On se met autour du feu, on sort un paquet de cigarettes. Un moment rare de détente, comme si on était à une soirée entre amis. Un des réfugiés, Omar*, nous montre les photos de sa femme et deux enfants, âgé de deux et cinq ans. On demande s’ils sont toujours en Syrie. Il répond que non, qu’ils sont en Biélorussie à la frontière. J’essaie de ne pas imaginer dans ma tête ce qu’ils se passe avec eux.

Les réfugiés que l’on rencontre racontent que ce qui se passe du cote bélarusse de la frontière, c’est le pire. Les signes de leur séjour en Biélorussie, on les voit partout sur leurs corps. Des blessures causées par le fil barbelé, des ecchymoses par les coups de garde-frontières. Certains ont des blessures causées par les morsures des chiens policiers.

Omar me montre une photo de lui en Syrie, puis se pointe du doigt. Sur la photo, il est bien habillé, soigné, il est dans un restaurant avec un ami. Ici, maintenant, il est dans des vêtements sales, la barbe qui n’a pas été rasée depuis des semaines. C’est comme s’il voulait dire : regarde ce que je suis devenu. Il me montre sa main, un morceau de son doigt manque. Effet de son passage de la frontière.

Dans un sac à dos qu’on a apporté, on trouve un paquet de Toffifee. Ils l’ouvrent et nous en proposent. Au début on refuse, on dit qu’ils en ont plus besoin que nous. Mais ils ont besoin de partager. Je prends mon Toffifee et je le cache dans ma poche. Je n’arrive pas à le manger, le ventre serré.

Il est temps de partir. « Quand je m’installe à Berlin, je vous inviterai tous », dit Omar.
« Ça marche ! », on répond en riant, tout en sachant qu’il y a peu de chance que ça arrive vraiment.

On rentre au QG des militants pour se reposer un peu quand soudain l’information nous tombe dessus : six enfants sont à l’hôpital de Hajnówka avec leur mère hospitalisée. On ne sait pas encore ce qui va leur arriver. Il faut leur préparer des vêtements chauds, au cas où ils seraient repoussés de nouveau. Ça peut paraitre fou, mais rien ne nous étonne plus dans cet enfer.

On apprend que le plus petit a trois ans et que le plus grand fait 150 cm. Je fouille dans les cartons dans notre dépôt. Je cherche des bonnets, chaussures, manteaux les plus chauds possible. Je me demande ce qui a bien pu se passer avec l’humanité pour que l’on soit là, à chercher des vêtements chauds pour des tout petits enfants, qui vont peut-être devoir passer des jours, ou des semaines, dans une forêt froide et humide. Je n’arrive pas à comprendre.

Ce sont des questions que les militants se posent tous les jours. Avant de venir sur place, avec mes trois amis avocats, on a appelé une avocate en droit d’asile qui nous a expliqué la procédure. Pourtant, on sait très bien qu’on entre dans une zone ou la loi n’existe plus. Ou ces procédures-là, prescrites par la loi nationale et internationale, ne sont plus applicables. Quelques chanceux vont pouvoir déposer une demande d’asile – généralement quand il y a des médias, des enfants, les cas « médiatiques ». Pour le reste, c’est le refoulement en Biélorussie. Rappel : les médias n’ont pas accès la zone sous état d’urgence.

Comme chaque semaine, Wanda et Robert, deux habitants d’un village qui se trouve dans la zone interdite, viennent à notre base. On leur donne des vêtements et des chaussures. Ils racontent que parfois, dans les villages au plus près de la frontière, on entend des voix venant des champs du maïs qui appellent « au secours ! ». Certains habitants reviennent avec de l’aide. D’autres appellent les autorités.

Depuis quelques jours, certains habitants de la région allument un feu vert devant leurs maisons. C’est un signe pour des réfugié-e-s que c’est une maison ou ils peuvent venir se réchauffer, manger quelque chose, charger leur portable, se reposer un peu avant de reprendre la route. L’initiative est de Kamil Syller, habitant du village Werstok.

Certains habitants de la zone font eux-mêmes des interventions dans des forêts. Ils sont très engagés mais leurs possibilités sont limitées. Comme la zone est fermée aux personnes de l’extérieur, on ne peut pas y aller les soulager. Ils se retrouvent seuls face à une souffrance difficile à imaginer.

– « Ce qui serait utile, c’est une formation médicale, dit Robert, Pour savoir comment reconnaître les symptômes d’hypothermie. Comment savoir que la personne est dans un état critique et qu’il faut appeler les secours ? »

Mais appeler une ambulance signifie aussi que les garde-frontières sont avertis (l’ambulance est obligée de le faire). En conséquence, c’est un « push-back » quasiment garanti.

Notre groupe militant collabore étroitement avec l’ambulance des Médecins à la Frontière (Medycy na granicy), une initiative des médecins et ambulanciers qui fournissent de l’aide médicale aux réfugié-e-s. Ils le font d’une manière bénévole. Depuis des semaines, ils font appel aux autorités pour les laisser entrer dans la zone de l’état d’urgence. Sans résultat.

Ce jour-là, les Médecins à la Frontière nous informent qu’ils soignent un groupe de trois personnes – deux Irakiens et un Turc. Les gardes-frontières ont remarqué l’ambulance et sont déjà sur place. Il faut y aller pour recueillir des procurations des réfugié-e-s. C’est leur seule chance pour commencer la procédure d’asile. On y va.

Les trois hommes sont déshydratés, affamés, avec des symptômes d’hypothermie. Ils ont bu de l’eau contaminée d’un ruisseau, ils ont des symptômes d’intoxication alimentaire. Un homme, Hamza, est dans un état grave. On va à l’hôpital dans la ville de Hajnówka. En route, on passe à côté d’une autre ambulance. On voit une personne à terre, recouverte d’une couverture de survie. On se demande si elle est toujours vivante.

Hamza prend mon portable. Avec mon outil de traduction, il dit qu’il ne peut pas rentrer en Biélorussie, il raconte qu’ils les ont battus et maltraités. Il a peur de mourir de froid dans la forêt.

Je verrai cette personne plus tard à l’hôpital. C’est un jeune homme, il a survécu. Quand je le vois aux urgences, le médecin me demande de lui dire, avec l’application de traduction de mon téléphone, qu’il va aller prendre une douche. Il tremble énormément, je n’ai jamais vu une personne trembler autant. Je mets la langue kurde et je parle à mon portable. Il ne m’entend pas mais je vois qu’il essaye de me dire quelque chose. Je me rapproche pour l’entendre, sa voix est très faible. « No Belarus, no Belarus », il dit. Partout sur son corps, des blessures et des traces de coups.

Après deux ou trois heures, les trois réfugiés avec qui je suis venue se sentent beaucoup mieux. Je recueille des procurations. Je leur dis pourquoi la demande d’asile est leur seule possibilité dans cette situation. J’essaie de leur expliquer que le fait de faire la demande ne garantit pas qu’ils ne vont pas être de nouveau repoussés en Biélorussie. Hamza prend mon portable. Avec mon outil de traduction, il dit qu’il ne peut pas rentrer en Biélorussie, il raconte qu’ils les ont battus et maltraités. Il a peur de mourir de froid dans la forêt. Je ne sais pas quoi lui répondre, comment le réconforter. Je sais très bien, on l’entend tous les jours, que la loi ne fonctionne pas. Mais je ne peux rien lui garantir.

On a un moment libre. Un militant, Olek, me raconte que quand il était petit, il passait l’été dans ces forêts, ou ses parents ont une maison de vacances. Il raconte comment il ramassait des champignons et faisait du vélo. Moi je lui raconte que l’année dernière je suis venue dans un des villages d’à côté pour écouter le brame du cerf. On se dit qu’on ne pourra plus jamais venir ici comme touristes. Qu’on ne pourra jamais se promener dans ces forêts sans penser à toutes ces personnes qu’on a rencontré parmi les arbres, dont on ne connaitra jamais le sort.

Comme celui d’Omar et de son groupe. Ou celui de Hamza ses deux amis Irakiens. Je contacte les garde-frontières pour apprendre où ils les ont pris – étant leur conseillère, j’ai le droit d’avoir accès à cette information. Pourtant, on m’informe que personne ne sait où ils sont, personne ne les a jamais vus.

Tout comme les six enfants de l’hôpital de Hajnówka. Plusieurs institutions, dont l’adjoint au Défenseur des droits, ont essayé d’intervenir en leur faveur.

Mon Toffifee, je le tiens encore dans ma poche. Je n’arrive toujours pas à le manger.

* Les noms des militants et des réfugié-e-s ont été changés

▻https://courrierdeuropecentrale.fr/no-belarus-no-belarus-reportage-avec-les-benevoles-a-la-fron

Entre la Pologne et le Belarus, les migrants abandonnés dans une #zone_de_non-droit

Le Parlement polonais a voté, le 14 octobre, la construction d’un mur à sa frontière avec le Belarus. Mais aussi la possibilité de refouler les migrants, coincés entre les deux pays, dans une forêt où l’état d’urgence a été décrété.

Un mur d’une valeur de 350 millions d’euros et le « droit » de refouler les migrants qui se présentent à ses frontières avec le Belarus. C’est ce qu’a voté le Parlement polonais, jeudi 14 octobre, faisant fi du droit international, qui interdit la pratique du push back (refoulement) lorsque les personnes en migration déclarent vouloir demander l’asile dans un pays. Des mesures qui surviennent au moment où la Pologne a créé, à sa frontière, une zone enclavée en pleine forêt, où les migrants restent bloqués sans eau ni nourriture, dans des conditions de vie extrêmes.

Dimanche 17 octobre, à l’initiative de groupes féministes, des manifestations se sont tenues à Varsovie et dans plusieurs autres villes polonaises, comme Cracovie, pour dénoncer ces refoulements et les « actions scandaleuses des autorités vis-à-vis des personnes à la recherche d’un refuge en Pologne ». Le même jour, un ressortissant ukrainien qui transportait vingt-sept migrants irakiens dans une voiture aurait été arrêté par les garde-frontières polonais, selon l’ambassade de France en Pologne.

Depuis l’été dernier, la Pologne est devenue l’un des principaux points de passage des migrants qui, venant du Belarus, tentent de traverser la frontière pour rejoindre l’Allemagne et l’Europe de l’Ouest. Les forces de l’ordre polonaises sont accusées par plusieurs ONG, dont Amnesty International, d’abandonner à leur sort des demandeurs d’asile se présentant à leurs frontières et de les renvoyer de force vers le Belarus. Ainsi, mi-août dernier, Amnesty International a pu documenter et prouver, grâce à une enquête numérique, le « renvoi forcé illégal » d’une trentaine d’Afghans ayant déposé une demande d’asile en Pologne vers le Belarus.

« Des personnes demandent l’asile dans un pays de l’Union européenne et un État membre de l’Union européenne viole de manière éhontée leurs droits : l’Union européenne doit agir rapidement et fermement pour dénoncer ces atteintes flagrantes au droit européen et international », avait alors dénoncé Eve Geddie, directrice du bureau d’Amnesty International auprès des institutions européennes.

En catimini, dès le 20 août, la Pologne a officialisé le refoulement des migrants par le biais d’un arrêté ministériel. L’état d’urgence décrété dans cette zone frontalière, côté polonais, début septembre, a ensuite fortement restreint l’accès aux ONG et journalistes, les empêchant de documenter le quotidien des personnes vivant ou se présentant à la frontière. C’est dans le cadre de la loi sur le renforcement de la sécurité aux frontières de l’État, adoptée mardi 19 octobre, que le Parlement a légalisé la pratique du refoulement.

Le Parlement polonais peut voter ce qu’il veut, les refoulements restent une violation du droit international.

Jan Brzozowski, chercheur et spécialiste des migrations

« Les migrations sont une nouvelle fois utilisées pour des raisons politiques, analyse le Polonais Jan Brzozowski, chercheur à l’université d’économie de Cracovie et spécialiste des migrations. Mais le Parlement polonais peut voter ce qu’il veut, les refoulements restent une violation du droit international. Ces mesures n’ont donc aucune valeur à l’extérieur de la Pologne. On n’attend pas du gouvernement qu’il accepte toutes les demandes d’asile mais que la loi internationale soit respectée, donc que les migrants qui se présentent à notre frontière, même illégalement depuis le Belarus, soient autorisés à déposer une demande de protection et qu’elle soit étudiée sérieusement. »

Pour Agnès Callamard, secrétaire générale d’Amnesty International, ce scénario ressemble fort au conflit né entre la Grèce et la Turquie il y a quelque temps. « Le Belarus utilise sa frontière avec la Pologne pour mettre l’Europe dans une situation difficile, en permettant à qui en a l’envie de rentrer sur le territoire sans visa. C’est ainsi que des Afghans ou des Irakiens prennent l’avion pour Minsk et entrent, à l’aide de passeurs ou autrement, sur le territoire polonais. Cela fait partie des intentions de Loukachenko d’utiliser la pression migratoire pour mettre une pression politique sur l’Europe, qui a émis beaucoup de sanctions à l’égard de son régime », souligne-t-elle.

Problème : l’instrumentalisation de la question migratoire par les deux pays engendre une situation catastrophique à la frontière, en particulier dans cette zone de non-droit où nul ne peut accéder. Déjà sept personnes ont perdu la vie depuis l’été et nombre d’observateurs ont constaté des cas d’hypothermie, de maladies liées à l’environnement de vie, de mal ou non-nutrition.

« Il faut imaginer une zone de 400 kilomètres de long et 3 kilomètres de large, en état d’urgence, où les seules personnes habilitées à y être sont les garde-frontières. Une zone forestière où il n’y a rien, où l’on ne peut se protéger du froid et où l’on n’a pas à manger. Les réfugiés qui y sont coincés n’ont pas le droit de la traverser pour aller sur le reste du territoire polonais, au risque d’être renvoyés dans cette zone ou d’être repoussés vers le Belarus. Ces push back, sans prise en compte de leur situation individuelle, sont illégaux au regard du droit international. Mais finalement tout est illégal, y compris le fait de les bloquer dans cette zone sans leur apporter une aide humanitaire », résume Agnès Callamard, experte des droits humains, qui rappelle la responsabilité du gouvernement polonais dans ces multiples violations du droit international.

Les gens boivent l’eau des marais, certains tombent malades.

Anna Alboth, membre de l’ONG Minority Rights Group

Anna Alboth, membre de l’ONG Minority Rights Group, estime qu’environ 5 000 personnes seraient aujourd’hui parquées dans cette forêt, au milieu des marécages et des animaux sauvages, sans ressources pour survivre. « On ne peut pas parler d’un afflux, ces mesures sont disproportionnées », relève Agnès Callamard. « Les gens boivent l’eau des marais, certains tombent malades. Les gens ne connaissent pas la géographie des lieux et ne sont pas habitués au froid. Plusieurs migrants nous ont raconté qu’ils n’avaient pas mangé ni bu pendant des jours. Nous, on est juste des travailleurs humanitaires, personne ne nous a préparés à patrouiller en forêt à la recherche de personnes cachées pour leur donner une simple bouteille d’eau », regrette Anna Alboth, qui vient de passer plusieurs semaines à la frontière, rencontrant des groupes de femmes seules, des familles, des enfants, venus pour la plupart de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Congo, Nigéria), du Kurdistan irakien, de Syrie et du Yemen.

Si quelques habitants tentent d’aider les migrants sur place, une majorité d’entre eux, rapporte Anna Alboth, appellent la police pour dénoncer leur présence aux abords de la forêt, répondant aux conseils des policiers. « Ils font du porte-à-porte pour inviter les gens à dénoncer les migrants, en affirmant qu’ils sont dangereux et en leur conseillant de bien fermer leurs fenêtres et porte d’entrée le soir. Ils affirment aussi transférer les migrants dénoncés vers des centres d’accueil où ils peuvent demander l’asile, ce qui est faux. 95 % d’entre eux n’en ont pas la possibilité et sont refoulés. »

Une« propagande » également dénoncée par le chercheur Jan Brzozowski, qui rappelle qu’un programme scandaleux a été diffusé récemment en Pologne, insinuant que les migrants détenaient du matériel illégal sur leurs téléphones comme du contenu pédopornographique, ou étaient des sympathisants de l’État islamique. « Un mensonge total visant à manipuler les gens. La population adhère à la propagande du gouvernement polonais et n’est pas suffisamment informée. Elle ignore ce qu’il se passe à la frontière. »

L’idée d’une “invasion” prépare la population à accepter le pire des agissements.

Agnès Callamard, secrétaire générale d’Amnesty International

À ses yeux, l’une des priorités serait de « sensibiliser » les Polonais sur la réalité du terrain, car le gouvernement polonais actuel accorde une « importance forte » à l’opinion publique. « Cela doit passer par le peuple. Le soutien, même symbolique, des ONG travaillant sur les droits humains à travers le monde peut aussi aider. Quant à l’idée de sanctions au niveau européen, je crois que ce serait contreproductif : on voit bien comment les relations avec l’Union européenne se détériorent dans un contexte où la Pologne espère gagner en autonomie. »

Jeudi 7 octobre, le Tribunal constitutionnel polonais a rendu une décision venant contester la primauté du droit européen (lire ici notre entretien). Au Parlement européen, mardi 19 octobre, les députés ont appelé la Commission européenne à « utiliser tous les outils à sa disposition pour défendre les citoyens polonais » et à lancer des procédures d’infraction envers la Pologne.

La dynamique actuelle aux frontières entre la Pologne et le Belarus rejoint, pour Agnès Callamard, ce que l’on voit ailleurs dans le monde et en Europe concernant les migrations : la symbolique de « l’invasion » s’installe dans les esprits, propagée par les milieux de droite et d’extrême droite. Et tant pis si des personnes (y compris des enfants) « meurent de faim ».

« La majorité des Polonais est d’accord pour que le gouvernement prenne ces mesures, note la secrétaire générale d’Amnesty International, qui revient d’un séjour en Pologne. On n’arrête pas de les bombarder de messages insinuant que le pays est envahi et que s’il ne fait rien, cela aboutira à la même situation qu’en 2015. L’idée d’une “invasion” prépare la population à accepter le pire des agissements. On voit cela partout en Europe, où l’on essaie d’habituer les gens à déshumaniser les réfugiés. Et ça marche. »

▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/201021/entre-la-pologne-et-le-belarus-les-migrants-abandonnes-dans-une-zone-de-no

Video shows Polish guards using tear gas to push back migrants

A group of migrants stuck at the Belarusian-Polish border trying to cross the border barrier has been repelled by guards using tear gas, the Polish Border Guard said. Up to 15,000 migrants and refugees could be stranded in the border region between the two countries.

A group of migrants stuck on the Polish-Belarusian frontier for weeks tried to break through the border barrier, according to the Polish Border Guard.

Near the village of Usnarz Gorny, six people threw wooden logs onto the barbed wire fence in an effort to topple it, the agency said in a tweet on Wednesday (October 20) that included a video of the incident. The migrants also threw stones at border guards and soldiers, the tweet added. Some were equipped with axes and pliers, it said.

▻https://twitter.com/Straz_Graniczna/status/1450830048035024903

Border guards used tear gas to stop the migrants, which can be seen in the last 15 seconds of the video. Nevertheless, 16 of them eventually forced their way into Polish territory but were pushed back to the other side of the border, according to the agency.

It is important to note that the information provided by the Polish Border Guard cannot be independently verified because Poland has imposed a state of emergency in the border region. Journalists and aid workers are not allowed in.

Over the past few months, thousands of mainly Middle Eastern migrants have been trying to reach the European Union via Belarus. They chose paths to EU member states Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. According to news agency dpa, around 15,000 migrants have gathered at the Polish-Belarusian border since then. The Lithuanian government on Wednesday spoke of a total of 6,000 to 7,000 who could be waiting at the EU external border with Belarus.

Read more: Germany mulls sanctions to stop migration from Belarus amid growing concern over rights violations
Geopolitical conflict

The governments of Poland and other EU countries as well as EU institutions have repeatedly accused Belarusian ruler Lukashenko of allowing people from countries like Iraq and Lebanon to travel toward the bloc’s external borders via Belarus to put pressure on the EU and sow division. On Wednesday, Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, accused Belarus of organizing human trafficking, calling it a form of “hybrid threat by weaponizing migrants.”

Underlying the recent spike in irregular migrant arrivals to the EU via Belarus is a complicated geopolitical conflict. In May, Lukashenko’s security forces diverted a Ryanair plane with a Belarusian activist on board flying from Greece to Lithuania. As a result, the EU imposed sanctions on Belarus.

In return, Lukashenko indicated that Belarus could retaliate by loosening border controls for irregular, western-bound migrants as well as drug trafficking.

On Wednesday, the body of a Syrian was found in a river in the border region between Poland and Belarus. It was the eighth recorded migrant death since the beginning of the surge in arrivals. Amnesty International, the Council of Europe and others have repeatedly criticized member Poland for its treatment of migrants at the border with Belarus.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/35949/video-shows-polish-guards-using-tear-gas-to-push-back-migrants

#Usnarz_Gorny #push-backs #refoulements

Freezing to death: the migrants left to die on the Poland-Belarus border – video
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uassRA0qF-s

Migrants are dying in Poland’s forested border with Belarus, as the countries are locked in a geopolitical standoff. Polish authorities accuse Belarus of deliberately abandoning migrants near its border in an attempt to destabilise the EU because the bloc imposing sanctions on Belarus after its disputed election.

Poland has responded by declaring an emergency zone, forbidden to journalists and activists, where it is believed that, hidden from sight, they are illegally forcing people seeking asylum back over the border instead of processing applications. We follow Piotr Bystrianin, an activist trying to locate desperate migrants in the woods before the border guards do.

▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/oct/22/freezing-to-death-the-migrants-left-to-die-on-the-poland-belarus-border

#froid

Verloren in Europas letztem Urwald : Fotos von der polnisch-belarussischen Grenze

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH400/16874475185846e4-7d762.jpg

Poland builds a border wall, even as it welcomes Ukrainian refugees

https://i.imgur.com/RMACgRT.png

Her impulse was to welcome people in desperation, so Maria Ancipiuk made sure her border town was ready. As immigrants mostly from the Middle East started streaming into Poland last year from Belarus, she lobbied the mayor to offer up two empty town-owned apartments for anybody who might need them. Volunteers changed the wallpaper and renovated the flooring. Ancipiuk bought a refrigerator and a television.

Five months later, though, the apartments are empty.

Rather than being welcomed into Polish homes, the vast majority of people crossing from Belarus are being detained or pushed back by Polish authorities.

That stance, in effect just to the north of Poland’s border with Ukraine, means two different groups seeking the same thing — refuge — are arriving to find what amounts to two different versions of Europe.

Along one segment of Poland’s border, where 2.5 million Ukrainians have fled, border agents help carry duffel bags, push wheelchairs, hold tired children and escort to safety refugees who’ve been granted automatic European Union residency for up to three years.

On another segment of that border, Poland is trying to stop what it describes as “illegal” immigrants by using drones, infrared cameras and helicopters. It has dispatched 13,000 soldiers and border guards to patrol the forested boundary, while sealing off the area — under an emergency decree — to journalists and human rights groups. It is hurrying to finish a $380 million 116-mile steel wall that the government says will be “impenetrable.”

“I cannot stand the contrast,” said Ancipiuk, a 65-year-old town councilor and grandmother of six who now furtively provides aid to immigrants trying to move through the Polish forest at night. “Ukrainians are considered war refugees and Yemenis are considered migrants. Why? What is the difference?”

Poland’s approach is in line with the broader E.U. policy of forcefully deterring undocumented immigration — including from parts of the world where there are few legal options for reaching this continent. The E.U. has been funding the Libyan coast guard to thwart immigrants from crossing the Mediterranean to Italy. In Greece, security forces have been accused by immigrants and by Turkey of repelling would-be asylum seekers back into Turkish waters. And when Poland vowed to block people trying to cross from Belarus — a crisis orchestrated by authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who lured people to his country with the promise of access to Europe — E.U. leaders said Poland was justifiably responding to a “hybrid attack.”

Months later, though, Poland’s national human rights institution says the country is not living up to European ideals — and is also violating international law.

It is illegal for security authorities to expel foreign nationals without giving them a chance to claim asylum. Yet humanitarian groups have documented Polish border guards tracking down people in the woods and driving them back to the Belarusian border, a practice that Poland’s parliament has effectively legalized. Poland so thoroughly patrols the border that some immigrants say they’ve been pushed back to Belarus more than a half-dozen times. The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner said one person who returned to Belarus had given birth only hours earlier.

Poland has garnered much praise for its willingness to accept so many refugees in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the war also leaves Poland in a position where it is sending people back to a country that is serving as a staging ground for missiles launched into Ukraine.

“Poland should not be sending anybody back,” said Hanna Machinska, Poland’s deputy commissioner for human rights. “Belarus is not a safe country. There is no question about it.”

Belarus has one of the world’s most repressive governments, and its approach to immigrants is also harsh: Though it invited thousands of people, it appears to have no interest in hosting them; hundreds spent the winter in a warehouse, and when the facility was recently shuttered, the immigrants were taken to the Polish border and given instructions to leave.

For those crossing from Belarus who are fortunate enough not to be pushed back, the next stop is generally a closed detention center, including one where people are kept in rooms with 24 beds. Poland permits only a small subset to move into alternative facilities — like the homes Ancipiuk had prepared in Michalowo. Since January, as the overall flow from Belarus started to decline, the number of lucky few has been zero.

In mid-March, Ancipiuk received a call from a regional official, notifying her of funding incentives for towns that would host Ukrainians.

She asked if there were similar incentives for hosting people who’d crossed from Belarus.

“There was a bit of consternation on the line,” Ancipiuk said.

She never heard back with an answer but took the silence as a no. Her town is now offering the two apartments to refugees from Ukraine as well.

—

At Poland’s border agency headquarters in Warsaw, Lt. Anna Michalska said her country is responding as any should: by defending order and its own laws. Lukashenko had precipitated the emergency in a place where undocumented border-crossings had once been “practically zero,” she said, and she argued that the people who’d taken the offer to go to Belarus had the time and luxury to plan their journey. They booked tourist visas. Unlike Ukrainians, she said, they are not looking “for the first place to be safe.”

What they tend to want above all, she said, is a life in Germany.

She denied the widely documented accusation that Poland is pushing back people who request asylum. Most people don’t want to apply for protection, she said, knowing such a request triggers a mandatory stay in the country. She said there is no legal problem in returning people to Belarus.

“I don’t have information that there is war in Belarus,” she said. “We’re not a taxi service from Belarus to Berlin.”

So Poland is building its wall. The border agency granted two Washington Post journalists access to the restricted zone, providing them a meeting point five miles from Belarus, where a border guard van was waiting. In the exclusion zone, police worked checkpoints, and the road through villages and small farms was all but empty, aside from military vehicles. The border guards described a daily tension: immigrants who launch stones at security authorities, smugglers who run routes to and from Germany, activists who communicate with the immigrants and “incentivize” them to cross.

Then the van stopped at the wall.

https://i.imgur.com/TIsZqFT.png

It is partially completed, composed of 18-foot-high planks of vertical steel beams, with tiny spaces in between. The spaces provide visibility to the other side, and from afar, the wall has the look of a translucent silver strip running along the horizon, covering a territory where this year there have been more than 3,500 attempts to cross.

“Everything is going according to plan,” said Katarzyna Zdanowicz, a border guard spokeswoman who was on the tour. She said the wall would be completed in June.

She said the border guard over the past months has improved “a lot” in its efficiency in stopping people. While waiting for the wall to be completed, the agency has strung razor wire across the border, plowed new roads and purchased tear gas canisters.

As part of the tour, Zdanowicz walked over to a green-painted Toyota SUV, parked in a field, where two agents were patrolling the border with high-resolution cameras.

“We’re trying to show that this is not the way to come,” she said.

In villages near the border, some residents — sympathetic to the plight of immigrants — have taken to turning on green lights in their homes, a signal that they have a safe place to stay for someone on the run. Michalska, the border official in Warsaw, said it is permissible to provide housing for somebody coming from Belarus — on the condition that the host immediately alerts the border guards.

“Otherwise,” she said, “you’re offering help for an illegal stay in Poland.”

—

Activists and human rights officials say Poland is treating the immigrants coming through Belarus as universally undeserving of protection in Europe, when that is not always the case. Some come from countries, such as Cameroon, whose citizens rarely win asylum in Europe. But others come from countries such as Yemen, ravaged by war, or Syria, where towns have been decimated by Russian airstrikes.

For Ibrahim Al Maghribi, 27, a Syrian, seeing Poland’s response to Ukraine has made him feel all the more confounded about the inequities.

After being displaced from his home outside Damascus, all he wanted was safety and a “decent life,” he said in an interview conducted over WhatsApp, because he said he could be more articulate with written English.

To get that life, he booked a tour package to Belarus, where he was chauffeured by members of the Belarusian military to a spot along the Polish border they said was easy to cross. After walking miles overnight in the Polish forest, he was arrested by Polish border guards, who told him “this is not your land.” He was returned to Belarus, which denied him reentry as well, leaving him stuck briefly between two borders, before trying to enter Poland again. This time, he and some friends successfully reached the car of a smuggler and eventually wound up in Germany — a trip that cost him $5,000, paid to tour guides and drivers, as well as several nights of exhaustion and sleeplessness.

“It’s a horrible feeling to feel that you came from another planet,” said Al Maghribi, who is now applying for asylum and living in a public housing complex in Rieden, Germany. The same Polish authorities who welcome Ukrainians wouldn’t even “offer us a glass of water,” he said.

One consequence of Poland’s approach is that immigration along the Belarusian border has been pushed nearly out of view. Poland denied a request to visit the closed centers holding asylum seekers.

Activists say they have had to become more cautious after Poland last month arrested four volunteers on charges of organizing illegal immigration.

Even the number of immigrant deaths in Poland is disputed; the government says nine have died since the middle of last year, while activists put the number at more than two dozen. Among the unknowns is what happens to immigrants who are pushed back and don’t return — including two Kurdish families, both with infants, who were repelled several times after crossing into Poland and recently fell out of communication with activists.

“We can’t reach them,” said Monika Matus, an activist working with one of the main border activist groups. “This is the reason I’m having a hard time sleeping at night.”

Even at the height of the crisis, in November, the volume of people crossing was about 700 per day — compared with tens of thousands of Ukrainians. Now, the number arriving from Belarus has dropped even further; some days, as many as 130 try to cross, according to Polish government data. Other days, it’s only a few dozen. The decrease stems in part from pressure on international airlines and tour groups to discontinue the immigrant pipeline to Belarus. Some of those crossing now enter Belarus not directly but via Russia. Activists who used to be overwhelmed by middle-of-the-night SOS calls now go some days without a single alert.

For Poland, it’s a sign that its tactics are working.

For activists, it’s a sign that Poland’s response has been disproportionate.

“We’re spending so much money to create a fortress,” said Tomasz Thun-Janowski, a volunteer for the humanitarian aid group Fundacja Ocalenie, “when helping them would cost a fraction.”

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/13/poland-refugees-wall-belarus

Août 2021 :
Pologne : des arrivées de migrants records à la frontière biélorusse
►https://seenthis.net/messages/925941

Août 2021 :
La #Pologne érigera une clôture en barbelés à sa frontière avec le #Bélarus
►https://seenthis.net/messages/927137

Octobre 2021:
Poland : 4 people found dead on border with Belarus
►https://seenthis.net/messages/931677

Octobre 2021 :
L’#Allemagne propose à la #Pologne des #patrouilles_conjointes
►https://seenthis.net/messages/933796

Octobre 2021:
Poland passes law allowing migrants to be pushed back at border
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/934175

Novembre 2021 :
Une petite séquence sur la situation à la #frontière entre la #Pologne et la #Biélorussie (via twitter) :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/935856

Novembre 2021:
Belarus threatens to cut gas deliveries to EU if sanctioned over border crisis
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/936249

La Pologne rempart contre l’immigration clandestine

https://i.imgur.com/Koofbsa.jpg

Et deux autres :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH450/szlCh7Vjpg-ff303-b2ef3.jpg https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH409/syVEBQEjpg-ee52f-3ec9b.jpg

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/937296

Novembre 2021, déclaration de #Ursula_von_der_Leyen :

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L486xH696/QItHFtRpng-22fb6-a7b7d.png

Die Toten von der polnisch-belarussischen Grenze

https://seenthis.net/local/cache-vignettes/L600xH338/a4229f8e-322643e-60913.jpg

Poland’s border wall will cut Europe’s oldest forest in half
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1024724
#forêt #nature #faune #flore

What would Trump’s wall mean for wildlife?

Free movement between the US and Mexico - the hottest of topics in the 2016 US presidential campaign - is not just a human issue. What would the construction of a wall mean for animals that live near the border?

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/1084/production/_90982240_c0058858.jpg

▻http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37200583

Border walls are bad for wildlife

In 1996, #Botswana erected an 83-mile fence along its border with Namibia. The goal was to protect domestic cattle from the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease. Within a year, though, the barrier had snared five giraffes, one elephant, several antelopes and numerous other wild animals.

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/11/01/border-walls-are-bad-for-wildlife
#Namibie

Scientists say Trump’s border wall would devastate wildlife habitat

At the U.S.-Mexico border, scientists say existing fencing is hurting endangered wildlife and warn that a continuous wall could devastate many species.

▻https://www.texastribune.org/2017/03/03/environmental-impacts-border-wall
#USA #Etats-Unis

Trump Border Wall Could Have Big Consequences For Animals, Habitat

“It’s just an arbitrary line that’s drawn across a very diverse region,” Millis said, standing next to Sedgwick on the gusty ridge. “It severs and destroys habitat for wildlife. We have animals that aren’t able to move across the border.”

▻http://kjzz.org/content/446276/trump-border-wall-could-have-big-consequences-animals-habitat
#ligne_arbitraire

Embattled Borderlands

Will the border wall strike a fatal blow to one of the most imperiled wild regions in North America?

▻http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/embattled-borderlands/index.html

The Disastrous Impacts of Trump’s Border Wall on #Wildlife

▻http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/international/borderlands_and_boundary_waters/pdfs/A_Wall_in_the_Wild.pdf
#rapport

Trump’s Border Wall Could Impact an Astonishing 10,000 Species

The list, put together by a team led by Dr. Gerardo J. Ceballos González of National Autonomous University of Mexico, includes 42 species of amphibians, 160 reptiles, 452 bird species and 187 mammals. Well-known species in the region include the jaguar, Sonoran pronghorn, North American river otter and black bear.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAILcoQUIAAwsFx.jpg

Rise of border fences hampers wildlife movements

The growth of border fences in Central and Eastern Europe in recent years is a “major threat” to wildlife, according to a new study.

https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/047A/production/_90064110_d-mongoliangazelle-gsukhchuluun.jpg

Border Security Fencing and Wildlife: The End of the Transboundary Paradigm in Eurasia?

The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe has seen many countries rush to construct border security fencing to divert or control the flow of people. This follows a trend of border fence construction across Eurasia during the post-9/11 era. This development has gone largely unnoticed by conservation biologists during an era in which, ironically, transboundary cooperation has emerged as a conservation paradigm. These fences represent a major threat to wildlife because they can cause mortality, obstruct access to seasonally important resources, and reduce effective population size. We summarise the extent of the issue and propose concrete mitigation measures.

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/figure/image?size=large&id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002483.g001#.jpg http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article/figure/image?size=large&id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002483.g002#.jpg

►http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002483
#faune #Europe #Europe_centrale #Europe_de_l'Est #cartographie #visualisation

The Border Wall Is Underway . . . Right in the Middle of a Wildlife Refuge

Trump’s already offensive wall will also endanger an already endangered species.

▻https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/border-wall-underway-right-middle-wildlife-refuge

Up Against the Wall

The U.S.-Mexico borderlands contain some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in either country. Trump’s wall would imperil all of it.

▻http://www.biographic.com/posts/sto/up-against-the-wall

Wildcats, butterflies, tortoises: all are endangered by Trump’s border wall

In the Rio Grande Valley, close to the border with Mexico, the president’s proposed barrier spells danger for the region’s plentiful wildlife

▻https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/12/butterflies-trump-wall-mexico-border-wildlife

Rewriting biological history: Trump border wall puts wildlife at risk

Mexican conservationists are alarmed over Trump’s wall, with the loss of connectivity threatening already stressed bison, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, bears and other animals.
About one-third of the border, roughly 700 miles, already has fencing; President Trump has been pushing a controversial plan to fence the remainder.
A wall running the entire nearly 2,000-mile frontier from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, conservationists warn, would be catastrophic for borderland ecosystems and many wildlife species, undoing years of environmental cooperation between the two countries to protect animals that must move freely or die.
The wall is currently a key bargaining chip, and a sticking point, in ongoing immigration legislation negotiations taking place this week in Congress. Also expected this week: a federal court ruling on whether the administration can legally waive environmental laws to expedite border wall construction.

https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/09130619/13_Border_Kessler_Bison-bison2.jpg

A Land Divided

The national debate about border security doesn’t often dwell on the natural environment, but hundreds of miles of public lands, including six national parks, sit along the U.S.-Mexico border. What will happen to these lands — and the wildlife and plants they protect — if a wall or additional fences and barriers are built along the frontier?

https://i.imgur.com/RUsnoNe.jpg

R ULES C OMMITTEE P RINT 115–66 T EXT OF THE H OUSE A MENDMENT TO THE S ENATE A MENDMENT TO H.R. 1625

US spending bill requires “an analysis, following consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, of the environmental impacts, including on wildlife, of the construction and placement of physical barriers” (p 677)

▻http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180319/BILLS-115SAHR1625-RCP115-66.pdf
Extrait partagé par Reece Jones sur twitter
▻https://twitter.com/reecejhawaii/status/977304504700780544

Activists Vow Fight as Congress Funds Portions of Border Wall

Last week Congress voted to appropriate some monies to build new fortifications along the United States–Mexico border, but border activists in the Rio Grande Valley say the fight against President Donald Trump’s border wall is far from over.

The nearly $1.6 billion in border wall funding included in the omnibus spending bill that Trump signed Friday provides for the construction of some 33 miles of new walls, all in Texas’s ecologically important Rio Grande Valley. Those walls will tear through communities, farms and ranchland, historic sites, and thousands of acres of protected wildlife habitat, while creating flooding risks on both sides of the border. But far from admitting defeat, border activists have already begun mapping out next steps to pressure Congress to slow down or even halt the wall’s construction.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/styles/flexslider_full/public/sierra/articles/big/SIERRA%20Border%20Wall%20Funding%20WB.jpg?itok=dhEVyMbj#.jpg

▻https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/activists-vow-fight-congress-funds-portions-border-wall

Congress is quietly letting Trump bulldoze a butterfly refuge to build a border wall

A wildlife refuge was spared, but 33 miles of new wall that will cut through protected areas in #Texas have been funded.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ouH8zU36i0uixN1Sl5Hn-HdDFyI=/0x0:2272x1704/1520x1013/filters:focal(919x720:1281x1082)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59190707/Myscelia_ethusa_female__2003_Oct_21__Santa_Ana_NWR__Hidalgo_Co__TX__JGlassberg2F8cmyk2.0.jpg

▻https://www.vox.com/2018/3/28/17152644/trump-border-wall-texas-environment-refuge-butterflies

State attorney general, environmental group to appeal decision on Trump’s border wall

A ruling by a San Diego federal judge allowing construction of President Donald Trump’s border wall to go ahead will be appealed by two entities that opposed it, including the state Attorney General.

Both the Center for Biological Diversity and Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed formal notices of appeal on Monday seeking to reverse a decision in February from U.S District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel. The judge ruled that the Trump administration did not abuse its discretion in waiving environmental laws in its rush to begin border wall projects along the southwest border.

The center had said after the ruling it would appeal, and Becerra also hinted the state would seek appellate court review at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The notices declare an intent to appeal. They do not outline arguments to be made on appeal or why each group believe that Curiel got it wrong.

In a prepared statement Becerra said, “When we said that a medieval wall along the U.S.-Mexico border does not belong in the 21st century, we meant it. There are environmental and public health laws in place, and we continue to believe that the Trump Administration is violating those laws. We will not stand idly by. We are committed to protecting our people, our values and our economy from federal overreach.”

The lawsuits challenged a law that allowed the federal government not to comply with environmental and other laws and regulations when building border security projects. They argued the law was outdated and Congress never intended for it to be an open-ended waiver for all border projects, and contended it violated constitutional provisions of separation of powers and states’ rights.

In his decision Curiel said both that the law was constitutional and it gave the Department of Homeland Security wide latitude over border security.

Justice Department spokesman Devin O’Malley said in response to the Curiel ruling that the administration was pleased DHS “can continue this important work vital to our nation’s interest.”

“Border security is paramount to stemming the flow of illegal immigration that contributes to rising violent crime and to the drug crisis, and undermines national security,” O’Malley said.

▻http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/sd-me-border-appeal-20180409-story.html

Les murs n’arrêtent pas que les humains

Des États-Unis à la Malaisie, en passant par Israël ou la Hongrie, les hommes construisent de multiples murs pour contraindre les déplacements de nos semblables. N’oublions pas, explique l’auteur de cette tribune, que nous ne sommes pas les seuls à habiter la Terre et donc à pâtir de ces barrières.

La #forêt_de_Bialowieza a quelque chose de mythique et de sacré. Âgée de plus de 8.000 ans, elle est la dernière forêt primaire d’Europe. S’étalant sur 150.000 hectares entre la Pologne et la Biélorussie, inaccessible aux visiteurs sans guide assermenté, elle constitue un sanctuaire d’espèces témoignant de la richesse des mondes anciens. Le bison d’Europe y vit encore de manière naturelle, côtoyant élans, cerfs, loups, lynx, etc.

En 1981, à l’époque du rideau de fer, l’URSS a décidé de clôturer la frontière entre la Pologne et la Biélorussie, coupant à travers cette forêt et séparant en deux la dernière population de bisons d’Europe (environ 500 individus de part et d’autre). Cette clôture est symboliquement forte, car elle témoigne de la coupure existentielle (« ontologique », diraient les philosophes) que les humains se sont imposée vis-à-vis des autres êtres vivants. Ces derniers semblent ne pas exister à nos yeux.

Mais cette séparation est plus que symbolique, elle est concrète. Les murs dressés par l’espèce humaine représentent une menace importante et sous-estimée pour de nombreux êtres vivants non humains.
Murs de béton, de pierre, de boue, de sable ou de brique, de barbelés, de grilles en acier ou de clôtures électrifiées

On en trouve surtout aux frontières : entre les États-Unis et le Mexique, la Corée du Nord et du Sud, Israël et la Cisjordanie, la Malaisie et la Thaïlande, l’Inde et le Pakistan, l’Iran et l’Irak, la Chine et la Mongolie, le Botswana et le Zimbabwe, etc. Ils prennent la forme de murs de béton, de pierre, de boue, de sable ou de brique, de barbelés, de grilles en acier ou de clôtures électrifiées, et viennent accompagnés de routes, de casernes, de lumières et de bruits. Leur nombre a considérablement augmenté depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. Par exemple en Eurasie (sans le Moyen-Orient), il existe aujourd’hui plus de 30.000 km de murs, grillages et barbelés aux frontières.

Ces murs affectent évidemment les populations humaines en brisant les trajectoires personnelles de millions de personnes. Ils affectent aussi les autres espèces [1]. À Białowieża, par exemple, la séparation a empêché les flux génétiques (et a donc fragilisé) des populations de bisons, d’ours, de loups et de lynx. Pire, 25 ans après la destruction du rideau de fer entre l’Allemagne et la République tchèque, les jeunes cerfs (qui n’avaient jamais vu de clôtures) ne traversaient toujours pas la frontière [2].

En mai 2018 paraissait dans la revue Bioscience un article cosigné par dix-huit grands noms de l’étude et de la protection de la biodiversité (dont Edward O. Wilson) et signé par 2.500 scientifiques, qui alertait sur les « conséquences inattendues mais importantes » de ces murs frontaliers sur la biodiversité [3]. Ce cri d’alarme n’est pas le premier [4], mais il résume bien l’état des lieux de la recherche, et aussi l’état de préoccupation des chercheurs.
Lorsque les habitats se fragmentent, les territoires des populations se réduisent

Les murs nuisent à la biodiversité de plusieurs façons. Premièrement, ils peuvent blesser ou tuer des animaux directement, quand ils s’emmêlent dans les fils barbelés, sont électrocutés ou marchent sur des mines antipersonnelles.

Deuxièmement, ils fragmentent et dégradent les habitats. Par exemple la frontière de 3.200 km entre le Mexique et les États-Unis traverse les aires de répartition géographique de 1.506 espèces natives (parmi lesquelles 1.077 espèces animales) dont 62 sont sur la liste des espèces en danger. Le mur menace cinq régions particulièrement riches en biodiversité (on les nomme « hotspots ») qui retiennent presque tous les efforts de conservation et de « réensauvagement » (rewilding). Lorsque les habitats se fragmentent, les territoires des populations se réduisent, et le nombre d’espèces présentes sur ces petites surfaces se réduit plus que proportionnellement, rendant ainsi les populations plus vulnérables, par exemple aux variations climatiques. Les clôtures frontalières contribuent aussi à accroître la mortalité de la faune sauvage en facilitant la tâche des braconniers, en perturbant les migrations et la reproduction, et en empêchant l’accès à la nourriture et à l’eau. Par exemple, le mouton bighorn (une espèce en danger) migrait naturellement entre la Californie et le Mexique mais ne peut aujourd’hui plus accéder aux points d’eau et aux sites de naissance qu’il avait l’habitude de fréquenter.

Troisièmement, ces murs annulent les effets bénéfiques des millions de dollars investis dans la recherche et les mesures de conservation de la biodiversité. Les scientifiques témoignent aussi du fait qu’ils sont souvent l’objet d’intimidations, de harcèlements ou de ralentissements volontaires de la part des officiers responsables de la sécurité des frontières.

Enfin, quatrièmement, les politiques de sécurité mises en place récemment font passer les lois environnementales au deuxième plan, quand elles ne sont pas simplement bafouées ou oubliées.
Des centaines de kilomètres de clôtures de sécurité aux frontières extérieures et intérieures de l’UE

Le double phénomène migrations/clôtures n’est pas prêt de s’arrêter. En 2015, un afflux exceptionnel d’êtres humains fuyant leurs pays en direction de l’Europe a conduit plusieurs États membres à réintroduire ou renforcer les contrôles aux frontières, notamment par la construction rapide de centaines de kilomètres de clôtures de sécurité aux frontières extérieures et intérieures de l’UE. Le réchauffement climatique et l’épuisement des ressources seront dans les années à venir des causes majeures de guerres, d’épidémies et de famines, forçant toujours plus d’humains à migrer. Les animaux seront aussi de la partie, comme en témoigne la progression vers le nord des moustiques tigres, qui charrient avec eux des maladies qui n’existaient plus dans nos régions, ou encore l’observation du loup en Belgique en mars 2018 pour la troisième fois depuis des siècles…

Les accords entre pays membres de l’Union européenne au sujet des migrations humaines seront-ils mis en place à temps ? Résisteront-ils aux changements et aux catastrophes à venir ? Quel poids aura la « #Convention_des_espèces_migrantes » (censée réguler le flux des animaux) face aux migrations humaines ?

En septembre 2017, un bison d’Europe a été aperçu en Allemagne. C’était la première fois depuis 250 ans qu’un représentant sauvage de cette espèce traversait spontanément la frontière allemande. Il a été abattu par la police.

https://reporterre.net/IMG/jpg/arton12562-de32e.jpg

▻https://reporterre.net/Les-murs-n-arretent-pas-que-les-humains
#Bialowieza

Les murs de séparation nuisent aussi à la #faune et la #flore

3419 migrants sont décédés en Méditerranée en tentant de rejoindre Malte ou l’Italie. C’est ce que révèle un rapport du Haut commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés publié le 10 décembre. Il y a les barrières naturelles, et les murs artificiels. Pendant deux mois, le web-documentaire Connected Walls s’attaque aux murs de séparation entre quatre continents : le mur entre l’Amérique du Nord et l’Amérique latine incarné par les grillages entre les Etats-Unis et le Mexique, celui entre l’Europe et l’Afrique incarné par les barbelés qui séparent les enclaves espagnoles du Maroc. Tous les 10 jours, Connected Walls publie un nouveau documentaire de cinq minutes sur une thématique choisie par les internautes. Cette semaine, ils ont sélectionné la thématique « animal ».

Cette semaine, sur Connected-Walls,Valeria Fernandez (USA) et Fidel Enriquez (Mexico) ont suivi John Ladd dont la famille possède un ranch dans l’Arizona, à la frontière mexicaine, depuis cinq générations. Depuis la construction du mur frontalier en 2007, les choses ont changé pour lui et pour les animaux.

De leur côté, Irene Gutierrez (Espagne) et Youssef Drissi (Maroc) ont rencontré Adam Camara, un jeune de Guinée Équatoriale qui a tenté de traverser plusieurs fois le détroit entre le Maroc et l’Espagne. Lors de sa dernière tentative, il a reçu l’aide d’un mystérieux ami.
Pour chaque thématique, un partenaire associatif a carte blanche pour rédiger une tribune. Celle-ci a été rédigée par Dan Millis, de l’organisation écologiste Sierra Club :

« Les animaux se moquent bien des frontières politiques. Le jaguar de Sonora n’a pas de passeport, et le canard morillon cancane avec le même accent, qu’il soit à Ceuta ou dans la forêt de Jbel Moussa. Les murs et les barrières ont cependant un impact considérable sur la faune et la flore. Par exemple, les rennes de l’ancienne Tchécoslovaquie ne franchissent jamais la ligne de l’ancien Rideau de Fer, alors même que cette barrière a disparu depuis 25 ans et qu’aucun des rennes vivant aujourd’hui ne l’a jamais connue. Les quelques 1000 kilomètres de barrières et de murs séparant les États-Unis et le Mexique détruisent et fragmentent l’habitat sauvage, en bloquant les couloirs de migration essentiels à la survie de nombreuses espèces. Une étude réalisée grâce à des caméras installées au niveau des refuges et des zones de vie naturellement fréquentés par la faune en Arizona a montré que des animaux comme le puma et le coati sont bloqués par les murs des frontières, alors que les humains ne le sont pas. »

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Border Fences and their Impacts on Large Carnivores, Large Herbivores and Biodiversity: An International Wildlife Law Perspective

Fences, walls and other barriers are proliferating along international borders on a global scale. These border fences not only affect people, but can also have unintended but important consequences for wildlife, inter alia by curtailing migrations and other movements, by fragmenting populations and by causing direct mortality, for instance through entanglement. Large carnivores and large herbivores are especially vulnerable to these impacts. This article analyses the various impacts of border fences on wildlife around the world from a law and policy perspective, focusing on international wildlife law in particular. Relevant provisions from a range of global and regional legal instruments are identified and analysed, with special attention for the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species and the European Union Habitats Directive.

▻https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/reel.12169

Border Security Fencing and Wildlife: The End of the Transboundary Paradigm in Eurasia?

The ongoing refugee crisis in Europe has seen many countries rush to construct border security fencing to divert or control the flow of people. This follows a trend of border fence construction across Eurasia during the post-9/11 era. This development has gone largely unnoticed by conservation biologists during an era in which, ironically, transboundary cooperation has emerged as a conservation paradigm. These fences represent a major threat to wildlife because they can cause mortality, obstruct access to seasonally important resources, and reduce effective population size. We summarise the extent of the issue and propose concrete mitigation measures.

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Butterfly Preserve On The Border Threatened By Trump’s Wall

The National Butterfly Center, a 100-acre wildlife center and botanical garden in South Texas, provides a habitat for more than 100 species of butterflies.

It also sits directly in the path of the Trump administration’s proposed border wall.

The federal spending bill approved in September includes $1.6 billion in 2019 for construction of the wall. In October, the Department of Homeland Security issued a waiver to 28 laws protecting public lands, wildlife and the environment to clear the way for construction to proceed.

▻https://www.npr.org/2018/11/01/660671247/butterfly-preserve-on-the-border-threatened-by-trumps-wall
#papillons

Wildlife advocates, local indigenous tribes protest preparations for new border wall construction

The federal government this week began moving bulldozers and construction vehicles to the Texas border with Mexico to begin building a new six-mile section of border wall — the first new wall under President Donald Trump, administration officials confirmed Tuesday.

The move immediately triggered angry protests by a local butterfly sanctuary — The National Butterfly Center — and local indigenous tribes who oppose the wall and say construction will damage natural habitats. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the wall will run through land owned by federal government. The dispute came amid an administration claim that a caravan of 2,000 migrants had arrived in northern Mexico along the Texas border.

“We’re a recognized tribe and no one’s going to tell us who we are especially some idiots in Washington,” said Juan Mancias of the indigenous peoples’ tribe Carrizo-Comecrudo, who led protests on Monday. “We’re the original people of this land. We haven’t forgot our ancestors.”

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So far, the Trump administration has upgraded only existing fencing along the border. The president has called for some $5 billion for new wall construction, and Democrats have refused, resulting in a budget dispute that shut down the government for five weeks.

This latest Texas project relies on previously appropriated money and won’t require further congressional approval. Construction plans for the Rio Grande Valley, just south of McAllen, Texas, call for six to 14 miles of new concrete wall topped with 18-foot vertical steel bars.

Last year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristen Nielsen waived a variety environmental restrictions, including parts of the Endangered Species and Clean Water Acts, to prepare for construction in the area. Construction on the Rio Grande Valley project is expected to start in the coming weeks.

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Marianna Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center, remains a staunch advocate against the border wall. She met this week with authorities who she said wants to buy the center’s land for wall construction.

She traveled to Washington last month to explain the environmental damage that would be caused by the construction in testimony on Capitol Hill.

“The bulldozers will roll into the lower Rio Grande Valley wildlife conservation corridor, eliminating thousands of trees during spring nesting season for hundreds of species of migratory raptors and songbirds,” Wright told the House Natural Resources Committee.

When asked by ABC News what message she has for people who aren’t there to see the impact of the new border wall, Wright paused, searching for words to express her frustration.

“I would drive my truck over them, over their property, through their fence,” she said.

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DHS continues to cite national security concerns as the reason for building the border wall, with Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen saying in a statement Tuesday that migrants in the new caravan that had arrived at the Texas border would try to cross over illegally.

“Such caravans are the result of Congress’s inexcusable failure to fully fund a needed physical barrier and unwillingness to fix outdated laws that act as an enormous magnet for illegal aliens,” Nielsen said in a statement.

The last so-called caravan that caused alarm for the administration resulted in thousands of migrants taking shelter in the Mexican city of Tijuana. Just across the border from San Diego, many waited several weeks for the chance to enter the U.S.

▻https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wildlife-advocates-local-indigenous-tribes-protest-preparations-border/story?id=60859814
#résistance #peuples_autochtones #Carrizo-Comecrudo #McAllen #Texas

UPDATE: Bulldozers flattened a 150 swath of land on the LRGV Wildlife Refuge for the #borderwall and “enforcement zone.” @DHSgov is decimating some of the highest quality habitat in the region. This was supposed to be a refuge for wildlife, not a graveyard.

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As Work Begins on Trump’s Border Wall, a Key Wildlife Refuge Is at Risk

Construction is underway on a stretch of President Trump’s border wall cutting through the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Biologists warn the steel wall will disrupt carefully preserved habitat critical for the survival of ocelot, jaguarundi, and other threatened species.

As Tiffany Kersten descends from a levee into a verdant forest that stretches to the Rio Grande more than a mile away, she spots a bird skimming the treetops: a red-tailed hawk. Later, other birds — great blue herons, egrets — take flight from the edge of an oxbow lake. This subtropical woodland is one of the last remnants of tamaulipan brushland — a dense tangle of Texas ebony, mesquite, retama, and prickly pear whose U.S. range is now confined to scattered fragments in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in south Texas. The ecosystem harbors an astonishing array of indigenous wildlife: ocelot, jaguarundi, Texas tortoise, and bobcat, as well as tropical and subtropical birds in a rainbow of colors, the blue bunting and green jay among them.

But the stretch of tamaulipan scrub Kersten is exploring, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, won’t be around much longer. About 15 feet from the forest edge, Kersten — a board member of a local conservation group — spots red ribbons tied to tree branches on both sides of the trail. Soon, an excavator will uproot those trees to make way for a 140-foot-wide access road and an 18-foot-high wall atop the levee, all part of the Trump administration’s plan to barricade as much of the Texas/Mexico border as possible. On Valentine’s Day, two days before I visited the border, crews began clearing a path for the road, and soon the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will plant a cement foundation in the levee and top it with a steel bollard barrier.

This construction is the first project under a plan to build 33 miles of new wall along the levee in South Texas, with $641 million in funding that Trump requested and Congress authorized last year. That 33-mile stretch, cutting through some of the most unique and endangered habitat in the United States, will be joined by an additional 55 miles of wall under a funding bill Trump signed February 15 that allocates another $1.375 billion for wall construction. The same day, Trump also issued a national emergency declaration authorizing another $6 billion for border walls. That declaration could give the administration the power to override a no-wall zone Congress created in three protected areas around the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Since the mid-20th century, ranches, oil fields, and housing tracts have consumed 97 percent of the tamaulipan brushland.

Since the mid-20th century, ranches, farms, oil fields, subdivisions, and shopping centers have consumed 97 percent of the tamaulipan brushland habitat at ground zero of this new spate of border wall construction. That loss led Congress to create the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in the 1970s and spurred a 30-year-effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, conservation organizations, and private landowners to protect the remaining pockets of tamaulipan brushland and restore some of what has been lost. The Fish and Wildlife Service has purchased 10,000 acres of cropland and converted it back into tamaulipan woodlands; it hopes to replant another 30,000 acres. The refuge, now totaling 98,000 acres, has been likened to a string of pearls, with connected jewels of old-growth and restored habitat adorning the 300-mile lower Rio Grande Valley.

Into this carefully rebuilt wildlife corridor now comes the disruption of a flurry of new border wall construction. Scientists and conservationists across Texas warn that it could unravel decades of work to protect the tamaulipan brushland and the wildlife it harbors. “This is the only place in the world you can find this habitat,” says Kersten, a board member of Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, a non-profit group that works closely with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the corridor program. “And only 3 percent of this habitat is remaining.”

For all its efforts to turn cropland into federally protected habitat, the Fish and Wildlife Service finds itself with little recourse to safeguard it, precisely because it is federal property. The easiest place for the federal government to begin its new wave of border wall construction is the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which includes the picturesque La Parida Banco tract, where I joined Kersten. Under a 2005 law, the Department of Homeland Security can waive the environmental reviews that federal agencies such as the Fish and Wildlife Service typically conduct for projects that could alter federally protected lands.

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The tract Kersten and I visited is one of four adjacent “pearls” in the wildlife corridor — long , roughly rectangular parcels stretching from an entrance road to the river. From west to east they are the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge’s La Parida Banco tract, the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, the refuge’s El Morillo Banco tract, and the privately owned National Butterfly Center. A levee runs through all four properties, and the first sections of fence to be built atop it would cut off access to trails and habitat in the refuge tracts. Citizens and local and state officials have successfully fought to keep the fence from crossing the National Butterfly Center, the Bentsen-Rio Grande state park, and the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge farther downstream — at least for now. If Trump’s national emergency declaration survives court challenges, the border barriers could even be extended into these holdouts.

When the wall and access road are completed at La Parida Banco, a crucial piece of intact native habitat will become isolated between the wall and the river. Species that either rely on the river for water or migrate across it will find pathways they’ve traversed for thousands of years blocked.

While biologists are concerned about the impacts of the wall all along the U.S.-Mexico border, the uniqueness of South Texas’ ecosystems make it an especially troublesome place to erect an 18-foot fence, they say. The 300-mile wildlife corridor in South Texas, where the temperate and the tropical intermingle, is home to an astounding concentration of flora and fauna: 17 threatened or endangered species, including the jaguarundi and ocelot; more than 530 species of birds; 330 butterfly species, about 40 percent of all those in the U.S.; and 1,200 types of plants. It’s one of the most biodiverse places on the continent.

`There will be no concern for plants, endangered species [and] no consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service,’ says a biologist.

“This is a dry land, and when you have dry land, your diversity is near the water,” says Norma Fowler, a biologist with the University of Texas at Austin who studies the tamaulipan brushland ecosystem. She co-authored an article published last year in the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment warning of the consequences of the new wall for the region’s singular ecosystems and wildlife. Since the wall can’t be built in the river, it’s going up a mile or more north of it in some areas, placing both the riparian habitat right along the river and the tamaulipan thornscrub on higher ground at risk.

“Both of those habitats have been fragmented, and there’s not much left,” Fowler says. “Some of it is lovingly restored from fields to the appropriate wild vegetation. But because they’ve waived every environmental law there is, there will be no concern for plants, endangered species. There will be no consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service.”

When the wall rises, the barrier and the new patrol road alongside it will cut an unusually wide 140-foot swath to improve visibility through the dense brush. In her article, Fowler estimated that construction of the border wall would destroy 4.8 to 7.3 acres of habitat per mile of barrier. The fence will also cut off access to the river and habitat on the Mexican side of the border for many animals. Including bobcats, ocelot, jaguarundi, and javelina. Some slower-moving species, like the Texas tortoise, could be caught in floods that would swell against the wall.

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If new walls must be built along the Rio Grande, Fowler says, the Department of Homeland Security should construct them in a way that causes the least harm to wildlife and plants. That would include limiting the footprint of the access roads and other infrastructure, designing barriers with gaps wide enough for animals to pass through, and using electronic sensors instead of physical barriers wherever possible.

One of the most at-risk species is the ocelot, a small jaguar-like cat that historically roamed throughout Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Arizona, but that numbers only about 80 today. The sole breeding population left in the U.S. is in South Texas, and it is wholly dependent on the dense shrubland in the Lower Rio Grande Valley that the wall will bisect. Some species could be wiped out altogether: The few sites where Physaria thamnophila, a native wildflower, still grows are directly in the path of the wall, Fowler says.

With 1,254 miles of border — all following the languid, meandering course of the Rio Grande — Texas has far more of the United States’ 1,933-mile southern boundary than any other state, yet it has the fewest miles of existing fence. That’s because much of the Texas border is private riverfront land. The first major push to barricade the Texas border, by the George W. Bush administration, encountered opposition from landowners who balked at what they saw as lowball purchase offers and the use of eminent domain to take their property. (Years later, some of those lawsuits are still pending.) Federal land managers also put up a fight.

Natural areas already bisected by a Bush-era fence offer a preview of the potential fate of the Rio Grande wildlife refuge.

When Ken Merritt — who oversaw the federal South Texas Refuge Complex, which includes the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Santa Ana, and the Laguna Atascosa refuge near where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico — questioned the wisdom of a barrier through Santa Ana during the Bush administration, he was forced out of his job.

“I was getting a lot of pressure,” says Merritt, who still lives in the valley and is retired. “But it just didn’t fit. We were trying to connect lands to create a whole corridor all along the valley, and we knew walls were very much against that.”

Natural areas already bisected by the Bush-era fence offer a preview of the potential fate of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. A few miles downstream from the La Parida tract, the Hidalgo Pumphouse and Birding Center, which anchors the southern end of the tiny town of Hidalgo, now looks out at a stretch of steel bollard fence atop a concrete wall embedded in the levee.

On a recent Monday morning, a few tourists milled about the gardens behind the pumphouse, listening to the birds — curve-billed thrashers, green monk parakeets, kiskadee flycatchers — and enjoying the view from the observation deck. Curious about the wall, all of them eventually walk up to it and peek through the four-inch gaps between the steel slats. On the other side lies another pearl: a 900-acre riverside piece of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge called the Hidalgo Bend tract. It was once a popular spot with birders drawn to its ferruginous Pygmy owls, elf owls, and other wildlife. But since the wall went up in 2009, few birders visit anymore.

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At The Nature Conservancy’s Sabal Palm Preserve, a 557-acre piece of the wildlife corridor near the Gulf of Mexico, a wall installed in 2009 cuts through one of the last stands of sabal palm forest in the Rio Grande Valley. Laura Huffman, regional director for The Nature Conservancy, worries that the more walls erected on the border, the less hope there is of completing the wildlife corridor.

Kersten and others remain unconvinced that the danger on the border justifies a wall. She believes that sensors and more Border Patrol agents are more effective deterrents to drug smugglers and illegal immigrants. Earlier on the day we met, Kersten was part of a group of 100 or so protestors who marched from the parking lot at nearby Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park to the adjacent National Butterfly Center, holding signs that read “No Border Wall” and “Solidarity Across Borders.” One placard listed the more than two dozen environmental and cultural laws that the Trump administration waived to expedite the fence. Among them: the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires environmental analysis before federal projects can begin; the Endangered Species Act; the Clean Water Act; the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act; the National Historic Preservation Act; and the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.

Even as the wall goes up in the refuge, preparations for this year’s restoration projects are moving ahead. Betty Perez, whose family has lived in the Lower Rio Grande Valley for generations, is one of several landowners who grow seedlings for replanting on refuge lands each year. At her ranch, about a 45-minute drive northwest of the La Parida Banco tract, she’s beginning to collect seeds to grow this year’s native shrub crop: coyotillo, in the buckthorn family; yucca; Texas persimmon.

Next to a shed in her backyard sit rows of seedlings-to-be in white tubes. To Perez, the delicate green shoots hold a promise: In a few years, these tiny plants will become new habitat for jaguarundi, for ocelot, for green jays, for blue herons. Despite the new walls, the wildlife corridor project will go on, she says, in the spaces in between.

▻https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-work-begins-on-trumps-border-wall-a-key-wildlife-refuge-is-at-risk

Trump’s @DHSgov just notified us of their plan to build 46 miles of #borderwall through the stunning #Chihuahuan Desert in #New_Mexico. A wall here would sever a known migratory corridor for one of the rarest & most endangered mammals on the continent - the Mexican #grey_wolf.

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Documents: CBP Ignored Federal Biologists’ Input on Border Wall

Border security officials visited wildlife preserves in Starr County, then blew off the recommendations of the scientists they brought along.

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▻https://www.texasobserver.org/documents-cbp-ignored-federal-biologists-input-on-border-wall
#zapata_bladderpod

Border Wall Rising In #Arizona, Raises Concerns Among Conservationists, Native Tribes

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Construction has begun on President Trump’s border wall between Arizona and Mexico, and conservationists are furious. The massive barrier will skirt one of the most beloved protected areas in the Southwest — Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, recognized by the United Nations as an international biosphere reserve.

On a recent drive along the borderline, a crew was transplanting tall saguaro cactus out of the construction zone.

“There may be misconceptions that we are on a construction site and just not caring for the environment,” intones a voice on a video released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project. “We are relocating saguaro, organ pipe, ocotillo...”

But a half-mile away, a big yellow bulldozer was scraping the desert clean and mowing down cactus columns that were likely older than the young man operating the dozer.

Customs and Border Protection later said 110 desert plants have been relocated, and unhealthy ones get bulldozed.

This scene illustrates why environmentalists are deeply skeptical of the government’s plans. They fear that as CBP and the Defense Department race to meet the president’s deadline of 450 miles of wall by Election Day 2020, they will plow through one of the most biologically and culturally rich regions of the continental United States.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has warned that the wall, with its bright lights, human activity and impermeable barrier, could negatively impact 23 endangered and at-risk species, including the Sonoran pronghorn antelope. And the National Park Service says construction could destroy 22 archaeological sites. Yet, for this stretch of western desert, the government has waived 41 federal environmental laws to expedite construction.

“This is a wall to fulfill a campaign promise. It’s really clear. And that’s what makes so many of us so angry. It’s being done so fast outside the rule of law and we know it’ll have an incredible impact,” says Kevin Dahl, Arizona representative for the National Parks Conservation Association. He sits beside a serene, spring-fed pond fringed by cattails, and dive-bombed by dragonflies. It is called Quitobaquito Springs, and it’s located on the southern edge of the #Organ_Pipe_Cactus_National_Monument.

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A biologist peers into a rivulet that feeds this oasis in the middle of the Sonoran desert.

“These guys are very tiny, maybe half the size of a sesame seed. Those are the Quitobaquito tryonia. And there are literally thousands in here,” says Jeff Sorensen, wildlife specialist supervisor with Arizona Game and Fish Department. He’s an expert on this tiny snail, which is one of three species — along with a mud turtle and a pupfish — whose entire universe is this wetland.

The springs have been used for 16,000 years by Native Americans, followed by Spanish explorers, traders and farmers.

But the pond is a stone’s throw from the international border, and the path of the wall. Conservationists fear workers will drill water wells to make concrete, and lower the water table which has been dropping for years.

“We do have concerns,” Sorensen continues. “Our species that are at this site rely on water just like everything else here in the desert southwest. And to take that water away from them means less of a home.”

The Trump administration is building 63 miles of wall in the Tucson Sector, to replace outdated pedestrian fences and vehicle barriers. CBP says this stretch of desert is a busy drug- and human-trafficking corridor. In 2019, the Tucson sector had 63,490 apprehensions and seized more than 61,900 pounds of illegal narcotics. The Defense Department is paying Southwest Valley Constructors, of Albuquerque, N.M., to erect 18- to 30-foot-tall, concrete-filled steel bollards, along with security lights and an all-weather patrol road. It will cost $10.3 million a mile.

The rampart is going up in the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide strip of federal land that runs along the U.S. side of the border in New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was established in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Congress refused to authorize money for construction of the wall in Arizona. Under Trump’s national emergency declaration, the Defense Department has reprogrammed counterdrug funding to build the border wall.

In responses to questions from NPR, CBP says contractors will not drill for water within five miles of Quitobaquito Springs. The agency says it is coordinating with the National Park Service, Fish & Wildlife and other stakeholders to identify sensitive areas “to develop avoidance or mitigation measures to eliminate or reduce impacts to the environment.” Additionally, CBP is preparing an Environmental Stewardship Plan for the construction project.

Critics are not appeased.

“There is a whole new level of recklessness we’re seeing under Trump. We thought Bush was bad, but this is a whole other order of magnitude,” says Laiken Jordahl, a former national park ranger and now borderlands campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity.

There was an outcry, too, back in the late 2000s when President George W. Bush built the first generation of bollard wall. Those barriers topped out at 18 feet. The structures rising southwest of Tucson are as tall as a two-story building. They look like they could hold back a herd of T-rexes.

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The Trump administration is using the same Real ID Act of 2005 that empowered President George W. Bush to build his border wall without heeding environmental protections. But the pace of waivers is quickening under Trump’s aggressive construction timeline. Under Bush, the Department of Homeland Security issued five waiver proclamations. Under Trump, DHS has issued 15 waivers that exempt the contractors from a total of 51 different laws, ranging from the Clean Water Act to the Archeological Resources Protection Act to the Wild Horse and Burro Act.

“The waivers allow them to bypass a lot of red tape and waive the public input process,” says Kenneth Madsen, a geography professor at Ohio State University at Newark who monitors border wall waivers. “It allows them to avoid getting bogged down in court cases that might slow down their ability to construct border barriers along the nation’s edges.”

The most important law that CBP is able to sidestep is the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA—known as the Magna Carta of federal environmental laws. It requires a detailed environmental assessment of any “federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.” NEPA covers most large federal construction projects, such as dams, bridges, highways, and waterway projects.

Considering the construction of 450 miles of steel barriers on the nation’s southern boundary, “There is no question that NEPA would require preparation of an environmental impact statement, with significant input from the public, from affected communities, tribal governments, land owners, and land managers throughout the process. And it is outrageous that a project of this magnitude is getting a complete exemption from NEPA and all the other laws,” says Dinah Bear. She served as general counsel for the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality for 24 years under four presidents.

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To some border residents, barriers — regardless how controversial — are the best way to stop illegal activity.

“I support Donald Trump 100%. If you’re going to build a wall, build it!” declares rancher John Ladd.

His family has bred cattle in Arizona since it was a territory. Their ranch backs up to the Mexican border near the town of Naco. The surrounding mountains purple at dusk, as a bull and his harem of cows munch gramma grass.

Time was when the Ladd ranch was overrun by people crossing the border illegally. They stole things and cut fences and left trash in the pastures. Then in 2016, at the end of the Obama years, CBP built a fence, continuing what Bush started.

Ladd reserves judgment on the propriety of a wall through a federally protected wilderness. But for his ranch, walls worked.

“When this 18-foot wall went in, it was obvious that immigrants quit coming through here,” he says. “It was an immediate improvement with the security of our border as well as our houses.”

Other border neighbors feel differently.

The vast Tohono O’odham Nation — nearly as big as Connecticut — shares 62 miles with Mexico. The tribe vehemently opposes the border wall. Several thousand tribal members live south of the border, and are permitted to pass back and forth using tribal IDs.

Already, border barriers are encroaching on the reservation from the east and west. While there is currently no funding to wall off the Arizona Tohono O’odham lands from Mexico, tribal members fear CBP could change its mind at any time.

“We have lived in this area forever,” says Tribal Chairman Ned Norris, Jr. “And so a full-blown 30-foot wall would make it that much difficult for our tribal citizens in Mexico and in the U.S. to be able to actively participate with family gatherings, with ceremonial gatherings.”

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Traditions are important to the Antone family. The father, son and daughter recently joined other tribal members walking westward along State Highway 86, which runs through the reservation. They were on a pilgrimage for St. Francis.

Genae Antone, 18, stopped to talk about another rite of passage. Young Tohono O’odham men run a roundtrip of 300 miles from the reservation, across the border, to the salt flats at Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

“The salt run, for the men, that’s really important for us as Tohono O’odham. For the men to run all the way to the water to get salt,” she said. “Some people go and get seashells. So I don’t really necessarily think it (the border wall) is a good idea.”

The Antone family — carrying a feathered walking stick, a statue of the virgin, and an American flag — then continued on its pilgrimage.

▻https://www.npr.org/2019/10/13/769444262/border-wall-rising-in-arizona-raises-concerns-among-conservationists-native-tri
#cactus

Les murs frontaliers sont une catastrophe écologique

On les croyait en voie d’extinction, ils se sont multipliés : les murs et autres clôtures aux frontières pour empêcher les migrations humaines ont un impact délétère sur de nombreuses espèces en morcelant leurs habitats naturels. Une raison de plus de s’y opposer, pour ce chroniqueur de gauche britannique.

C’est au XXIe siècle que convergent les catastrophes humanitaires et environnementales. L’effondrement climatique a contraint des millions de personnes à fuir de chez elles, et des centaines de millions d’autres risquent le même sort. La famine qui dévaste actuellement Madagascar est la première que les Nations unies ont qualifiée de conséquence probable de l’urgence climatique [un lien contesté] ; elle ne sera pas la dernière. De grandes métropoles s’approchent dangereusement de la pénurie d’eau à mesure que les nappes souterraines sont vidées. La pollution de l’air tue 10 millions de personnes par an. Les produits chimiques de synthèse qui se trouvent dans les sols, l’air et l’eau ont des retentissements indicibles sur les écosystèmes et les êtres humains.

Mais, à l’inverse, les catastrophes humanitaires, ou plus précisément les réactions cruelles et irrationnelles des gouvernements face à ces crises, peuvent aussi déclencher des désastres écologiques. L’exemple le plus frappant est la construction de murs frontaliers.

En ce moment, avec l’aide de 140 ingénieurs militaires britanniques, la Pologne entame la construction d’une paroi en acier de 5,5 mètres de haut sur 180 kilomètres, le long de sa frontière avec la Biélorussie. L’aide des militaires britanniques facilitera la signature d’un nouveau contrat d’armement entre le Royaume-Uni et la Pologne, d’un montant approximatif de 3 milliards de livres.
L’illusion de la chute du mur

Le mur est présenté comme une mesure de “sécurité”. Pourtant, il protège l’Europe non pas d’une menace mais du dénuement absolu de personnes parmi les plus vulnérables du monde, en particulier des réfugiés venus de Syrie, d’Irak et d’Afghanistan qui fuient les persécutions, la torture et les massacres. Ils ont été cruellement exploités par le gouvernement biélorusse, qui s’est servi d’eux comme arme politique. Ils sont maintenant piégés à la frontière en plein hiver, gelés et affamés, sans nulle part où aller.

À la chute du mur de Berlin, on nous a promis l’avènement d’une nouvelle époque plus libre. Depuis, beaucoup plus de murs ont pourtant été érigés qu’abattus. Depuis 1990, l’Europe a construit des murs frontaliers six fois plus longs que celui de Berlin. À l’échelle mondiale, le nombre de frontières clôturées est passé de 15 à 70 depuis la fin de la guerre froide : il existe actuellement 47 000 kilomètres de frontières matérialisées par des barrières.

Pour ceux qui sont piégés derrière ces obstacles, la cruauté du capitalisme est difficile à distinguer de la cruauté du communisme.

(#paywall)
▻https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/faune-les-murs-frontaliers-sont-une-catastrophe-ecologique

An endangered wolf spent days searching for a mate. The border wall blocked him.

It is the first time researchers have directly observed how border fences hinder the Mexican gray wolf, which is on the verge of extinction.

One chilly early morning in November, a wolf roamed southwest of Las Cruces, New Mexico, on the southern border of the U.S. He was probably driven by the call for survival and wanted to mate, researchers say.

In his search for a mate or for better opportunities, the wolf tried to cross the dangerous Chihuahuan Desert, a region he knows very well because it has been his species’ habitat since time immemorial.

This time, however, he was unable to cross. The barriers that make up the border wall prevented him from crossing the border into Mexico.

“For five days he walked from one place to another. It was at least 23 miles of real distance, but as he came and went, he undoubtedly traveled much more than that,” said Michael Robinson, the director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that defends and monitors species that are in danger of extinction — like this Mexican gray wolf, whom they called Mr. Goodbar.

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Robinson lives in Silver City, very close to Gila National Forest. He noticed the wolf’s adventures when he was reviewing a map from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that records the locations of the wolves using GPS devices they have on necklaces. It is the first time researchers have directly observed how the border wall hinders the life of the species, which is at risk of extinction.

“Mr. Goodbar’s Thanksgiving was forlorn, since he was thwarted in romancing a female and hunting together for deer and jackrabbits,” Robinson said. “But beyond one animal’s frustrations, the wall separates wolves in the Southwest from those in Mexico and exacerbates inbreeding in both populations.”

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The dangers of the wall

The Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations have said the border wall cuts off connections for wildlife in the area. The center has filed multiple lawsuits to stop the construction of barriers between the two countries and protect the populations of gray wolves and other endangered animals.

The organization announced Dec. 21 that it plans to sue the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection for failing to protect ocelots and other species during the construction of border levees along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

“It is hypocritical to use safety as an excuse to repair levees and then ignore federal laws that protect people and wildlife. These alleged repairs are seen more as an excuse to rush the construction of the border wall,” Paulo Lopes, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

The organization said more than 13 miles of levees will be built on the land of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, traversing family farms and other private property in Hidalgo County, Texas.

Ocelots have been in danger of extinction since 1982, and according to official data, it’s estimated that fewer than 50 of them remain in the U.S., all in South Texas.

Restoring their habitat, including creating wildlife corridors, is a priority for the Rio Grande Wildlife Refuge, but the levees project — which involves removing vegetation along the river to build a control zone 150 feet wide with new roads for law enforcement agencies, as well as lighting systems, cameras and sensors — threatens the ocelot’s habitat.

Building a wall on the border between Mexico and the U.S. was one of former President Donald Trump’s main campaign promises, and 450 miles of the project were completed during his presidency. The Biden administration suspended construction work, but Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, began construction of his own wall on Dec. 20.

“President Biden should knock down the wall,” Robinson said. “Allowing Mexican gray wolves to roam freely would do right by the sublime Chihuahuan Desert and its lush sky-island mountains. We can’t allow this stark monument to stupidity to slowly strangle a vast ecosystem.”
Challenges to survival

By March, the Fish and Wildlife Service had estimated that 186 specimens of the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) were in the wild, an increase of 14 percent over 2020. The population has increased for five consecutive years. Only 35 of the wolves are in Mexican territory, according to Mexican government data.

In some ways, the fight to preserve the wolves is a success story, because, from 1915 to 1972, U.S. authorities poisoned and trapped almost all of the wolves in the wild. Three of the last five surviving wolves, captured from 1977 to 1980, were bred in captivity along with the progeny of four previously captured Mexican wolves.

Because of a lawsuit filed by the center, the descendants of those seven wolves were reintroduced in the Southwestern U.S. in 1998. On the Mexican side, the wolves’ release began in 2011.

The subspecies is about 5 feet long, usually weighs 50 to 80 pounds and lives in herds of four to nine. Their gray and rust-color fur is abundant. They live from two to eight years, and, despite protective measures, very few die of natural causes.

Historically, their habitat has been the border: They used to live throughout southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona and as far south as central Mexico. Today they are found only in the Gila ecosystem, in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, and in the Sierra de San Luis, in northern Mexico.

Despite the modest but constant growth of its population, activists and experts have made multiple calls to maintain the protections for the species. Mr. Goodbar, who was born at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas and was released in the desert area of ​​Arizona in 2020, is the result of such measures.

The wolf’s adventurous and exploratory spirit is part of the species’ most basic instincts. It also runs in the family.

Wolves from Mexico twice entered the U.S. at the beginning of 2017. One crossed through the point where Mr. Goodbar couldn’t make it and then returned to Mexico. Two months later, a female crossed into Arizona, and authorities captured her to appease complaints from people linked to the livestock industry.

She is Mr. Goodbar’s mother, and she is still in captivity.

“If the barriers remain on the border, and more are being built, that is going to have an impact on the genetic diversity of the wolves, because it could affect their reproduction. If the wall could be knocked down, at least in some key areas, it has to be done. That will allow for wildlife connectivity,” Robinson said.
A problem of borders

Researchers at the Center for Biological Diversity say wolves aren’t the only species threatened by the border wall.

The telemetry studies of Aaron Flesch, a researcher at the University of Arizona, have found that the mountain owl, a bird in the area, flies at an average height of 4.5 feet, so border fences would also affect it.

In addition, other animals, such as the cacomixtle, which is similar to a racoon, and the northern fox need to travel through large areas of the Chihuahuan Desert to feed and reproduce, so the barriers are obstacles to their habitats.

Aislinn Maestas, a public affairs specialist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement published in the El Paso Times that it was “speculative” to suggest that a barrier may have affected the wolf’s movements, adding that the wolf has continued to roam widely.

However, the ecological impacts of border barriers have been widely documented. Roads and farmland isolate wildlife, but nothing else separates some species as effectively as border walls.

The fence erected between Slovenia and Croatia in 2015 could lead to the gradual extinction of the lynx in the Dinaric Mountains. Carcasses of bears, deer and lynx that died horribly after they got caught on their quills are often found throughout the area.

The barrier between India and Pakistan has caused the population of the Kashmir markhor (a rare wild goat) to collapse. The world’s longest border fences divide China, Mongolia and Russia, isolating populations of wild donkeys, Mongolian gazelles and other endangered species from the steppes.

Modern wildlife researchers have warned that even in large protected areas, wildlife species are at risk of extinction if they can’t disperse and mix with populations elsewhere.

Robinson, the activist, said that only once was he able to see a Mexican gray wolf in the wild. “They are incredible animals and play a key role in balancing nature,” he said.

After his days trying to cross the border in November, Mr. Goodbar headed north toward Gila National Forest, where most of the Mexican wolves live. The area is very close to where Robinson lives, and he usually hears the powerful howls and sees the footprints the wolves leave on their wanderings across the border.

“At any moment he will leave again. That is their nature, regardless of the walls that human beings build," Robinson said.

▻https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/endangered-wolf-spent-days-searching-mate-border-wall-blocked-rcna10769

#loup

Poland’s border wall to cut through Europe’s last old-growth forest
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/927137#message948541
►https://seenthis.net/messages/927137
#Pologne #forêt #Biélorussie

‘Stabbed in the back’: Biden’s border wall U-turn leaves Indigenous and climate groups reeling
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/1020582#message1020774